Congratulations on the successful startup! You’ve become an Accidental CEO.
This is the first blog post in a series looking at how entrepreneurs often put tons of work into building a successful business only to find themselves stuck and unhappy. Fortunately, you don’t have to stay in that uncomfortable spot.
Today, let’s examine how one ends up as an Accidental CEO. More importantly, we’ll see how it’s possible to shift from accidental to intentional, thereby improving both your professional and personal life.
How to create a successful business, and what to do when you realize it sucks
This is my story of success, and failure, and figuring out when you need to change both of those things. It might sound familiar to you.
A few years into my promising corporate career, I quit my job and became a freelance consultant. This was my chance to do what I loved: helping manufacturing companies implement enterprise-wide software systems that managed all of their workflows to buy things, make things and then get paid for things. I was good at it and enjoyed being a driver of positive change. I developed a steady stream of customers. Pretty impressive for a young woman still in her twenties!
However, I soon discovered I didn’t have enough time to do everything myself. I asked a friend to help me out. Then I recruited another friend, and another. This felt great until I realized I was no longer working with clients. Instead, I handled the bookkeeping, payroll, proposal writing, contract negotiation, and other organizational tasks. To my surprise and horror I even found myself hiring other consultants! I needed them to fill the role that used to be mine. I still loved that work, I just didn’t have time for it. I had lost access to the part of my business that brought me the most joy.
It wasn’t long before I hit an equally unexpected snag: I had a big enough staff that I couldn’t bring in enough work to keep them busy. I started going to trade shows to bolster our client lists. My team built add-on software programs and I sold those products. I started taking on — and worrying about — typical business needs like marketing campaigns, vacation schedules, and profit-sharing plans. Sure, I could do all of these things, but they sapped my time and energy. Even more depressing was the realization that, despite all my extra work, I was making less money than when I started the company!
At a time when I should have been celebrating my business success, I simply felt burnt out.
I realized I was no longer a software implementor, nor a consultant. That role shift came about organically as I pursued a series of logical next steps for my business. However, each incremental change added up to something I had neither anticipated nor wanted.
I had accidentally become a CEO.
This story may sound familiar. Maybe it’s happened to you. Don’t give up and shut everything down or sell at a loss. What happens by accident can be managed through intention. I can help you carefully craft the business and the life you’ve always wanted. Contact me for a free conversation about what comes next.
What is an Accidental CEO?
An Accidental CEO is a leader of a business that grew organically from a solo enterprise or limited partnership into a small company. The key word is organically. Typical characteristics of an Accidental CEO include:
An exceptional individual contributor to their industry
Started their business working alone or in partnership with a friend
Organically took on additional tasks as the need arose
Came to the realization they couldn’t do all the work by themselves
Sourced support employees and contractors from within their network
Now manages a small team of employees, contractors, and subcontractors
Struggles to delegate tasks, because they can do it better or faster
Rose to this position without a growth plan or clear vision of what they wanted to create
Often feels stuck or burnt out
You’re reading this post, so chances are good that you can relate.
You’ve likely added more and more responsibilities to your own plate as your business has grown, often doing mundane things no one else has the skills or desire to do: bookkeeping, hiring, training, performance reviews, firing. Not to mention all the conversations and emails you handle every day. Your team is growing fast and it falls to you to handle the inevitable issues that crop up, like employee disputes and sick leave coverage. You’d love to work with the many new clients coming in, but you’re mired in project work. Don’t even begin to consider a vacation! You’d just work in your hotel room every day while the beach taunts from your window — and you’d still return to a backlog of tasks.
These additional duties drain you dry. You know that CEOs shouldn’t be so hands-on. But if you don’t do it, who will?
Accidental CEOs feel compelled to do everything and manage everyone. I get it. I’ve started ten companies in my career. Most of them followed this trajectory, so I repeatedly fell into this unplanned role. As stressful as it was along the way, I’m actually glad these companies turned me into an Accidental CEO.
Wait, what?
You read that right! Becoming an Accidental CEO is a great problem to have. Let’s look at why, and what comes next.
It’s okay to be an Accidental CEO. This is where you begin anew.
When you become an Accidental CEO, it means you’ve achieved a high level of success. People want to pay for your product or service. Clients like working with you, so you have a bunch of them and others are clamoring to sign on. You’ve identified a market need and filled it. You’ve made enough money to hire others. Congratulations are in order!
Except, it doesn’t feel celebratory. Once your company reaches a certain size — about 8 to 15 people, I’ve found — the background work needed to keep it running becomes too much. Accidental CEOs are so overwhelmed that they’re unable to scale further. Something needs to change.
And it can change. That begins with finding a trustworthy mentor and a supportive, like-minded community. It starts deep inside, as you redirect the valuable skills that got you where you are today. Now is your time to thrive by becoming an Intentional CEO.
Are you an Accidental CEO? Let’s turn your hard work into intentional growth, both professional and personal. Contact me to find out how change is possible.
In our next post, we’ll look at what it means to be an Intentional CEO and how to begin the process of becoming one. Get ready to make the most important business journey of your life.